When Toyota launched its first Australian-built Camry Hybrid (or Hybrid Camry as the marketers dubbed it) in 2010, it bullishly predicted 10,000 sales a year. The reality fell well short.

Second time round Toyota has made the package more enticing by dropping prices, cutting fuel consumption, improving performance and adding equipment. Will the buyers come flocking now?

Price and equipment

Launched months after the latest orthodox four-cylinder Camry, the Hybrid comes as the entry-level H - being tested here - and the high-spec HL.

Both are fitted with the same drivetrain including a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, two electric motors and a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. The car can be driven on a combination of petrol and electricity, via petrol or electricity alone (the latter for only short distances).

Driving the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission, the combination delivers 151kW of power and a claimed fuel consumption average of just 5.2 litres per 100km. Helping achieve that figure is a new ECO mode that dulls petrol engine performance and airconditioning performance. A driver selectable EV mode has also been added.

The old 2.4-litre hybrid made 140kW and averaged 6.0L/100km.

Total torque is also up, but Toyota doesn’t provide numbers because of the different delivery characteristics of electric motors and petrol engines.

Despite the improvements the H drops $2000 from its predecessor to $34,990. That delivers it a significant price advantage over other fuel-conscious Aussie-built cars such as the Ford Falcon Ecoboost and Holden Commodore LPG.

It also matches the price of the fully imported and substantially smaller Toyota Prius.

New equipment for the H includes a powered driver’s seat and driver’s knee airbag (boosting the total ’bag count to seven). It claims a full five-star ANCAP rating, but VDIM steering assist has been deleted.

The H misses out on adjustable rear headrests but gets a full-size spare tyre.

Under the bonnet

One of the beauties of Toyota’s hybrid system is its seamlessness. It is very hard to tell when the electric motor is operating as there are no jars or jolts when it kicks in or out.

There is plenty of performance though, thanks to the electric motor characteristic of producing max torque from zero revs. It easily outdoes the standard Camry and would show up many small sixes too.

At start-up, low speeds, or ambling downhill, you can be running on electricity alone, saving fuel and emitting no CO2.

The result, especially around town, is dramatic fuel savings. While orthodox cars are using more fuel in stop-start city traffic, the Camry Hybrid is actually using less.

On the open road the Hybrid’s fuel consumption advantage decreases, but it is still frugal. Overall we averaged 6.6/100km on recommended 91 RON. That’s simply sensational.

It’s not the most characterful of drivetrains of course. The CVT encourages a droning soundtrack, replaced by a whirring when braking and slowing.

The brakes feel unhappily wooden in the regenerative phase, before the orthodox system cuts in to offer more feedback. There’s also an annoying click each time the pedal is released.

How it drives

The Hybrid drives like a typical Camry. There’s no involvement or response here. The best that can be said is the more annoying aspects have been ironed out to make it an acceptable and even moderately capable device.

The electric power steering is accurate yet vacant and the locally-tuned suspension acceptably comfortable. But drive it back-to-back against a mid-sizer such as a Mazda6, or a Falcon or Commodore, and you’ll understand it’s at least a generation behind. No surprise considering the underpinnings have evolved even less than the styling through the years.

Comfort and practicality

The Camry Hybrid is an example of the packaging advantages front-wheel drive provides. Despite being shorter than the rear-wheel drive Falcon or Commodore it has almost as much rear-seat room. Two full-size adults fit comfortably.

The 421-litre boot is bigger than its predecessor but lacks a split-fold because the battery pack lives behind the rear-seat. Suitcase-crushing gooseneck hinges are retained.

The centre stack is an improvement; the controls are better damped and substantial than the flimsy dials of yore.

A flow chart in the media screen shows whether the car is being powered by petrol, electricity or both and when power is being regenerated and stored, either under brakes or deceleration.

The driver sits on a high and hard - yet big - seat. Reach and rake steering-wheel adjustment aids comfort and control.

Storage is a Camry feature, with no less than 10 “beverage holders”.

Overall verdict

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

The Camry Hybrid is so good at saving fuel it deserves a much bigger audience than it currently attracts. The technology works, the car is affordable and sensible. It’s not exciting or involving, but you can’t have everything.